Vote in the Contrast Podcast Festive Fifty 2009!

It’s time for the final vote to determine the top fifty songs that will be crowned as this year’s Contrast Podcast Festive Fifty:

Select your favourite 10 songs from the shortlist of 155 below and rank them from 1 (your favourite) to 10 and send the list to me (contrast.podcast at gmail.com) You may also (if you are feeling evil) give a negative vote to any single song of your choice! The deadline for doing this is less than one week away – Monday 23rd November. Please ask your friends, family, blog readers and anyone else you know to send me their votes too – everyone can take part!!

Last year quite a few people said that they hadn't heard many of the songs, so this year I've setup a handy player with (almost) all of the tracks on it:

http://www.contrastpodcast.com/festivefifty

Here’s the list …

A.A. Bondy - When The Devil's Loose
Aidan Moffat & the Best Ofs - Big Blonde
Alexi Murdoch - Towards The Sun
Alice In Chains - Check My Brain
Andrew Bird - Fitz & dizzyspells
Andrew Bird - Nomenclature
Andrew Bird - Not a Robot, but a Ghost
Animal Collective - My Girls
Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes
Antlers (The) - Two
Art Brut - DC Comics And Chocolate Milkshake
Asobi Seksu - Transparence
At The Stars - Oxygen & Rust
Atlas Sound - Walkabout
Auld Lang Syne - Where My Fortune Lies
Avett Brothers (The) - I And Love And You
Bat for Lashes - Daniel
Beirut - The Akara
Bell X1 - The Great Defector
Big Pink (The) - Dominos
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Get Yo' Shit
Bob Dylan - Beyond Here Lies Nothin'
Bombadil - Sad Birthday
Bon Iver - Blood Bank
Builders and The Butchers (The) - Barcelona
Butcher Boy - Carve A Pattern
Buzz Aldrin - You and I
Camera Obscura - French Navy
Camera Obscura - Honey In The Sun
Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - White Corolla
Cats On Fire - Horoscope
Cats On Fire - Letters From A Voyage To Sweden
Cats On Fire - Tears In Your Cup
Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse with Wayne Coyne - Revenge
Das Racist & Wallpaper - Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell (Wallpaper. RMX)
Dave Matthews Band - Why I Am
David Bazan - Bless This Mess
David Gedge And The BBC Big Band - My Favourite Dress (live at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, 29 April 2009)
Death Cab for Cutie - Little Bribes
Decemberists (The) - Annan Water
Decemberists (The) - The Hazards of Love Part 4 (The Drowned)
Decemberists (The) - The Rake’s Song
Decemberists (The) - The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid
Decemberists (The) - Won't Want for Love
Dizzee Rascal & Armand Van Helden - Bonkers
Doves - Jetstream
Doves - Kingdom Of Rust
Drums (The) - I Felt Stupid
Editors - Papillon
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes - 40 Day Dream
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Home
Eels - Fresh Blood
Elvis Perkins In Dearland - Shampoo
Fanfarlo - I'm A Pilot
Faunts (The) - It Hurts Me All The Time
Flight of the Conchords - Carol Brown
Flight Of the Conchords - Sugarlumps
Florence & The Machine - Cosmic Love
Florence & The Machine - Dog Days Are Over
Florence & The Machine - Kiss With a Fist
Franz Ferdinand - No You Girls
Franz Ferdinand - Twilight Omens
Franz Ferdinand - Ulysses
Future Of The Left - Arming Eritrea
Girls - Hellhole Ratrace
Gong - Dance with the Pixies
Grand Archives - Oslo Novelist
Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks
Guggenheim Grotto (The) - Fee Da Da Dee
HEALTH - Die Slow
Heartless Bastards - The Mountain
Here We Go Magic - Fangela
Horrors (The) - Sea Within A Sea
I Like Trains - Sea Of Regrets
Iggy Pop - King Of The Dogs
Jarvis Cocker - Angela
Jarvis Cocker - I Never Said I Was Deep
Jarvis Cocker - Leftovers
Jason Lytle - Yours Truly, The Commuter
Jason Mraz - Traveler/Make it Mine (live)
Kasabian - Fire
Kurt Vonnegut & Dave Soldier - Nice Very Nice
Langhorne Slim - I Love You, But Goodbye
Leisure Society (The) - A Matter Of Time
Leisure Society (The) - The Darkest Place I Know
Leisure Society (The) - The Last Of The Melting Snow
Lily Allen - The Fear
Low Anthem (The) - Champion Angel
Madness - We are London
Memory Tapes - Bicycle
Metric - Gimme sympathy
Metric - Sick Muse
Meursault - Love Or Limb
Meursault - Nothing broke
Meursault - William Henry Miller Pt. 2
Meursault - William Henry Miller Pt. 1
Mew - New Terrain
Middle East (The) - Blood
Morrissey - I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
Morrissey - Something Is Squeezing My Skull
Mountain Goats (The) - 1 John 4:16
Mumford & Sons - Roll Away Your Stone
Mumford & Sons - The Cave
Mumford & Sons - White Blank Page
Muse - Uprising
National (The) - So Far Around The Bend
Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
Neko Case - People Got A Lotta Nerve
NOFX - My Orphan Year
Owl City - Fireflies
Pains of Being Pure At Heart (The) - Come Saturday
Pains of Being Pure At Heart (The) - Higher than the stars
Pains of Being Pure At Heart (The) - This Love Is Fucking Right
Pains of Being Pure At Heart (The) - Young Adult Friction
Passion Pit - Moth's Wings
Passion Pit - The Reeling
Paul Haig - Relive
Pet Shop Boys - Love etc.
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson - Relator
Phoenix - 1901
Phoenix - Lisztomania
PJ Harvey & John Parish - Black Hearted Love
Prefab Sprout - Earth, The Story So Far
Prefab Sprout - Let There Be Music
Prefab Sprout - Music Is A Princess
Raveonettes (The) - Suicide
Regina Spektor - Folding Chair
Regina Spektor - One More Time With Feeling
Richard Hawley - As The Dawn Breaks
Saint Etienne - Method of modern love
Sam Bisbee - Never Fall In Love
Spoon - Got nuffin’
Temper Trap (The) - Sweet Disposition
Thom Yorke - Hearing damage
Throw Me The Statue - Hi-Fi Goon
Twilight Sad (The) - I became a Prostitute
U2 - No Line on the Horizon
Very Best (The) - Warm Heart Of Africa
Wave Machines - The Greatest Escape We Ever Made
We Were Promised Jetpacks - Quiet Little Voices
We Were Promised Jetpacks - Roll Up Your Sleeves
White Lies - To Lose My Life
Wilco - Wilco (The Song)
Wilco - You And I
Wilco - You Never Know
Wild Beasts - All the Kings Men
Withered Hand - Love in the Time of Ecstasy
Withered Hand - Religious Song
Wye Oak - That I Do
XX (The) - Crystallized
XX (The) - Intro
XX (The) - VCR
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Zero

Happy voting!!

Can you hear the sirens coming?

On this week's Contrast Podcast I knocked up another little remix. This time it's a clash between Dizzee Rascal and DJ Donna Summer.

It's got some lovely sirens in it so enjoy it in the car!

DJ Marcel Dejeune - Sirens remix

TimTim on ya TomTom

Well I never. By the miracles of modern technology it seems that if you have one of these TomTom GPS navigation systems you can have ME telling you where to go! All you need to do is download the zip file below and follow these instructions to install it. Oh joy!

TimTim for your TomTom (zip file - 1MB)

my first mashup

This week's Contrast Podcast is all about the wonderful world of mashups, otherwise known as the art of taking two or more songs and making a new beautiful bastard offspring. I couldn't pick one from the hundreds of wonderful ones out there, so I thought I'd have a go at making one. Oh the joy.

I present DJ Marcel Dejuene's first and possibly only ever work.

The Bonzo Snoop Dogg Doo-Dah Band - Drop it like your heart and brain are done in (Snoop Dogg vs the Bonzos vs Death Cab)

Vote! Vote! Vote! Vote! Vote! Vote! Vote! ... Vote!

It's time to vote on this year's Contrast Podcast Festive Fifty.

Anyone can vote .. so get your thinking cap on ...

Select your favourite 10 songs from the shortlist below and rank them from 1 (your favourite) to 10 and send the list to me (at contrast.podcast@gmail.com). You may also (if you are feeling evil) give a negative vote to any single song of your choice! The deadline for doing this is less than a week away – Monday 24th November. Please ask your friends, family, blog readers and anyone else you know to send me their votes too. Here’s the list …

A.A. Bondy - Witness Blues (Daytrotter Session)
AC/DC - Rock n' Roll Train
Aimee Mann - Freeway
Arms - Kids Aflame
Beck - Gamma Ray
Ben Folds - Hiroshima (B B B Benny Hit His Head)
Ben Folds - The Frown Song
Ben Folds - You Don't Know Me
Billy Bragg - I Keep faith (solo version)
Billy Bragg - Old Clash Fan Fight Song
Bloc Party - Mercury
Bob Mould - The Silence Between Us
Brendan Canning - Hit The Wall
British Sea Power - Atom
British Sea Power - No Lucifer
British Sea Power - Waving Flags
Cat power - New York
Chad VanGaalen - Willow Tree
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
CSS - Rat Is Dead (Rage)
Dark Dark Dark - Junk Bones
David Byrne & Brian Eno - Strange Overtones
Death Cab For Cutie - I will Possess Your Heart
Death Cab For Cutie - You Can Do Better Than Me
Death Cab For Cutie - Your New Twin Size Bed
Delta Spirit - People C’Mon
DeVotchKa - Blessing In Disguise
DeVotchKa - The Clockwise Witness
Double Dagger - Catalogs
Elbow - Grounds for Divorce
Elbow - On a Day Like This
Elvis Costello and The Imposters - Stella Hurt
Felice Brothers - Frankie's Gun!
Felice Brothers - Greatest Show on Earth
Fleet Foxes - blue ridge mountains
Fleet Foxes - He Doesn’t Know Why
Fleet Foxes - Mykonos
Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
Flight Of The Conchords - Business Time
Flight Of The Conchords - Ladies Of The World
Fred - Fear
Frightened Rabbit - Fast Blood
Frightened Rabbit - Good Arms Vs. Bad Arms
Frightened Rabbit - Keep Yourself Warm
Frightened Rabbit - My Backwards Walk
Frightened Rabbit - Poke
Frightened Rabbit - The Modern Leper
Frightened Rabbit - The Twist
Girl Talk - Play Your Part (Pt. 1)
Glasvegas - Daddy’s Gone
Glasvegas - Geraldine
Half Man Half Biscuit - National Shite Day
Half Man Half Biscuit - Totnes Bickering Fair
Hello Saferide - Anna
Hercules & Love Affair - Blind
Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor
Ida Maria - I Like You So Much Better When You Are Naked
Ida Maria - Oh My God
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan - The Flame That Burns
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
Jenny Lewis - Carpetbaggers
Jukebox the Ghost - Hold it In
Keane - Spiralling
Lykke Li - Little Bit
M.I.A. - Paper Planes
M83 - Kim & Jessie
Manhattan Love Suicides - Jonny Boy
Mates of State - My Only Offer
Melody Gardot - Love Me Like A River Does
MGMT - Electric Feel
MGMT - Kids
MGMT - Time To Pretend
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
My Morning Jacket - I’m Amazed
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Albert Goes West
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Midnight Man
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - We Call Upon The Author
Northern Portrait - I Give You Two Seconds To Entertain Me
Okkervil River - Lost Coastlines
Okkervil River - On Tour With Zykos
Orphans and Vandals - Mysterious Skin
Panic at the Disco - Nine in the Afternoon
Panic at the Disco - That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed)
Paul Weller - Have You Made Up Your Mind
Port O'Brien - I Woke Up Today
Portishead - The Rip
R.E.M. - Hollow Man
R.E.M. - Living Well Is the Best Revenge
R.E.M. - Supernatural Superserious
Religious Knives - Basement watch
Robert Parker Vaughan - Crack Her Smile
Santogold - I'm A Lady
Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes
Santogold - Lights Out
School of Language - Rockist
She & Him - Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?
Shearwater - Rooks
Sigur Ros - All Alright
Sigur Ros - Festival
Sigur Ros - Gobbledigook
Sigur Ros - Inní mér syngur vitleysingur
Thao Nyugen - Bag Of Hammers
The Airborne Toxic Event - Sometime Around Midnight
The Fall - 50 Year Old Man
The Hold Steady - Ask Her For Adderall
The Hold Steady - Constructive Summer
The Hold Steady - Sequestered in Memphis
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
The Just Joans - What D We Do Now
The Raconteurs - Carolina Drama
The Raconteurs - Salute Your Solution
The Roy Hargrove Quintet - Strasbourg/St Denis
The Shortwave Set - No Social
The Stills - Being Here
The Wedding Present - Boo Boo
The Wedding Present - Don't Take Me Home Until I'm Drunk
The Wedding Present - Spiderman On Hollywood
The Weeks - Buttons
The Weepies - Antarctica
The Whigs - Right Hand on My Heart
The Young Knives - Up All Night
They Might Be Giants - Seven Days Of The Week (I Never Go To Work)
TV On The Radio - Golden Age
Vampire Weekend - A-Punk
Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma
Vampire Weekend - The Kids Dont Stand A Chance
Vanilla Swingers - I’ll Stay Next To You
Vivian Girls - Where Do You Run To
Weezer - Pork and Beans
Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby - Here Comes My Ship

The deaf sheets

I think that the new music video from Marianne Dissard says more in its images than I could manage in a few fruity meagre words.



For those of you who don't do French:

The deaf sheets

First, it was the cat when it started raining.
It slipped under the sheets, as if it was at home.
But we didnt care, and under the wet sheets kept going.
The door opened to your drunk friend who thought he was home.
But we didnt care, and in the frozen bed, we kept going.
All night long, banging on the door and windows.
Friends from everywhere, neighbours and lightning.
But we didnt care. We didn't see anything, and we kept going.

My god, it's full of stars!!

It's been a while hasn't it?

Usually I'm so far behind with my podcast making that I don't publish the episode until a Tuesday evening. The nature of this week's episode meant that it's already done and I've had time to make an alternative version of my own on Mixwit.

Contrast Podcast 123 - All Stars